7 Quick Takes Friday (set #145)

This week: Courage has released a wonderful new film: Desire of the Everlasting Hills. Planned Parenthood provides an abortion to a 13 year-old then returns her to her rapist. Despite spending $1 TRILLION per year, the “war on poverty” has failed (but for political advantage, it has morphed into a “war on work”). Matthew Archbold has an interesting observation on the media’s choice of nomenclature. Thailand produces some of the best TV commercials. An “IRS Love Song”: What are the Chances?. World Order produces… you just have to see it.

— 1 —

Courage has released (free) a truly excellent film on homosexuality and Catholicism: Desire of the Everlasting Hills. Here it is in its entirety:

Anthony Esolen has written a review of the film at Crisis Magazine. Professor Esolen’s piece is outstanding and I highly recommend it. National Catholic Register also has a good review.

— 2 —

This is nothing new at Planned Parenthood, but I draw your attention to the suit by the mother of a 13 year-old child. The young girl was taken to PP for an abortion by the step-father who had been raping her since she was 6. PP did the abortion and returned the young girl to her rapist where the sexual assaults continued. Of course, they kept mum about the whole thing in defiance of the law. LifeNews has the story.

— 3 —

In Economic Activity and Social Justice, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

2427 Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another. Hence work is a duty: “If any one will not work, let him not eat.” Work honors the Creator’s gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish. Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ.

2428 In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the potential inscribed in his nature. The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and its beneficiary. Work is for man, not man for work.

Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving the human community.

Charity providing only for basic needs does not help the poor beyond the very short term. It removes their independence, which some would argue is often a hidden goal. Welfare reform signed by Bill Clinton in 1996 included work requirements. That is, it sought to effect a “hand-up” and not just a “hand-out.” The current administration has significantly undermined that law. People are now far more dependent on the largess of government. For their own political ends, they have in essence launched a war on work:

Isn’t it funny that a man who wishes to be called a woman by the media is immediately called a woman but pro-lifers still can’t get the media to call them pro-lifers?

And practicing Catholics who publicly speak about the faith are labeled “controversial” while pro-abortion and pro same-sex marriage Catholics are labeled “devout.”

— 5 —

Thailand has the best commercials. Last September one of my 7QTF notes was on a wonderful advertisement for a Thai telecom company. Here is another Thai commercial for an insurance company:

— 6 —

I wrote two weeks ago about the unlikely odds of 7 concurrent disk drive failures as the IRS has claimed (1 in 78 billion). I understand they are claiming even more sudden failures of drives sought by investigators. This guy (Remy Munasifi) has taken another, more humorous approach to explaining it – an IRS love song entitled What are the Chances?. (The “chances” are astronomical that this is the obvious criminal conspiracy it appears to be.)

— 7 —

In my day, way before music videos, acts performed highly choreographed dance in their stage performances to promote their music. One of my favorites was The Temptations.

A modern analog of them might be World Order. Not my cup of tea, but I give them props for their dancing (or whatever it is they do):

They have “music videos” on their YouTube channel, including this one for their Machine Civilization hit:

Some random thoughts or bits of information are worthy of sharing but don’t warrant their own full post. This idea was started by Jennifer Fulwiler to address this blogging need, but is guest hosted this week by Carolyn Svellinger at Svellerella. So, some Fridays I too participate when I have accumulated 7 worthy items. Thank you Jen (and Grace) for hosting this project!

Recent Posts…

This week: The latest issue of New Evangelists Monthly awaits your perusal. St. Stanislaus Oratory celebrates. KLM inadvertently promotes truth while attempting to promote the opposite. Were the policies of our only Catholic president Democrat or Republican? A recent graduate reflects on her college education. Millennials and real work, imagined as lumberjacks. — 1 — […]

Enjoy this month’s edition of New Evangelists Monthly – an informal, dynamic, crowd-sourced “meta-magazine” showcasing the best posts faithful Catholic bloggers. In this and every issue, you will find many different, but faithfully Catholic viewpoints, insights and perspectives.

This week: The latest issue of New Evangelists Monthly awaits your perusal. Four cardinals have formally asked 5 clear and crucial questions – so far unanswered. Facebook and Twitter are censoring more and more Christian content – including the most basic pro-life speech. Martin Luther, “the man” as researched by a popular secular YouTube personality. […]